Streamline Your Plan Process

Abstract

To meet complex global challenges, executives face key challenges to set effective strategic visions. Too often the long‐term plan itself becomes a lengthy process, thus delaying reaching tangible results. Executives can get bogged down co‐ordinating a plan for many diverse parts and functions of their company. For example, linking a focused mission statement to broad environmental or market perspectives is a major challenge to putting together a coherent plan; or the effects of natural reiterations in the process are overlooked. Recommends several key ways to improve and quicken companies′ strategic efforts, including: first highlight what is truly new within the business environment; involve a variety of functional experts, while targeting their efforts; use less than six core analyses; collapse the time to complete a plan, i.e. within two months. Benefits include saving time, communicating a clearer strategic vision, avoiding hidden bias, focusing better on priorities, and getting results sooner.

Citation

Sokol, R.J. (1994), "Streamline Your Plan Process", Management Decision, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251749410054800